


If the Masters Wrote K/S

by Lyrastar



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: M/M, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-04-01
Updated: 2003-04-01
Packaged: 2020-06-29 11:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19829758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrastar/pseuds/Lyrastar
Summary: What if the great masters had known of K/S?  A six-pack of slashed poems.





	1. If E. E. Cummings Wrote K/S--A Duet

**Author's Note:**

> This is a highly derivative collection of adaptations of poems well-known to the public domain. All the artistry is in the original works--only the Treksmut slant is mine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I - a man who had fallen among thieves  
> II - one winter afternoon

_I_

_a man who fell among humans_  
_lay by my side still on his back_  
_dressed in uniform of duty_  
_wearing a peaked slant for a smile_

 _vulcan plying an elite_  
_but ironic twist of fate in_  
_return for freedom of the fleet_  
_endowed him with a stiff facade_

 _whereon countless brave and leal_  
_shipmates did thither gaze and pause_  
_then fired by hyperproper zeal_  
_sought newer pastures or because_

 _masked with an icy frozen look_  
_of sorest need from eyes which saw_  
_only everyone he spoke_  
_as if he did not care at all_

 _one hand did nothing at his waist_  
_its wideflung friend clenched firmly me_  
_while the trouserfly ripped in haste_  
_confessed the passion that must be._

 _Brushing his bangs from the stiff face_  
_i put him all into my arms_  
_and staggered banged with terror though_  
_a million billion trillion stars_

_II_

_one starry night_

_(at the appointed place_  
_where if became is)_

 _a golden idol_  
_standing tall among the fleet_  
_handed me his heart._

 _Nobody, it's safe_  
_to say, observed him but_

_myself; and why?because_

_without any doubt he was_  
_whatever (first and last)_  
  
_mostpeople fear most:_  
_a mystery for which i've_  
_no word except alive_

 _\--that is, completely alert_  
_and miraculously whole;_

_with not merely a mind and a body_

_but unquestionably a katra--_  
_by no means tragically heroic_

 _(or otherwise beyond perfection)_  
_but essentially unconquerable_  
_or eternally beneficent_

 _a fine, not a splendored idol_  
_(not a human, but a person)_

_and while never saying a word_

_who was anything but demure;_  
_since the smile of him_

 _self sang like a lyre._  
_Mostpeople have been heard_  
_screaming for intragalactic_

 _accords that render chaos logical_  
_\--how would it be if we_

_all simply followed our hearts_


	2. If Basho Wrote K/S

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Autumn Roads

_Lonely roads he walks alone_   
_No, another is beside!_   
_Starlit paths go on._


	3. If Shakespeare Wrote K/S

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sonnet 87

_Farewell! Thou art too dear for my possessing,_   
_And sure enough thou know'st thy fair effect._   
_The sands of Gol do holdeth my redeeming;_   
_My bond to thee shall be our sacrament._   
_But holding you be not of Surak's granting,_   
_The joys of love be not of Vulcan's serving,_   
_So your great gift a tear in me is rending;_   
_And to the forge of stone I must be heading._

_Thyself thou gav'st, our full worth then knowing_   
_And me to whom thou gav'st, wonder'sly taking_   
_So our great love, upon misprision growing_   
_Must the temp'ring test of time be undertaking._   
_Thus have I had thee as a dream doth flatter:_   
_In your arms alive; in the world, another matter._


	4. If Dickinson Wrote K/S

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Had Been Hungry

_I had been hungry all these years._   
_My time had come to dine._   
_I, trembling, drew my loved one near_   
_And tasted of his wine._

_'Twas to this man that I had looked_   
_When burning, hungry, lone._   
_I gazed upon the glorious gold_   
_I dare not dream to own._

_I did not know his quenching kiss_   
_'Twas so unlike the one_   
_The girl and I had onetime shared_   
_'Neath Omicron Ceti's sun._

_The feeling hurt, 'twas so new_   
_Myself felt odd and weak_   
_As a Vulcan shrub of desert land_   
_Transported to the sea._

_Nor was I hungry, so I found_   
_That hunger is a way_   
_Of persons banned from bounds of love_   
_That entering takes away._


	5. If R.L. Stevenson Wrote K/S

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Land of Counterpane

_When I was sick and lay a-bed,_   
_All my fanzines at my head,_   
_And action toys beside me lay_   
_To keep me happy all the day._

_I sometimes sent the ships in fleets,_   
_All up and down among the sheets;_   
_Or brought out Klingons armed with knives,_   
_And had them save each other lives._

_Or sometimes when no one was home,_   
_I let my plastic heroes roam,_   
_In Starfleet uniforms and cover,_   
_Among the sheets, one with the other._

_On screen they must be kept apart,_   
_Each time I watch it breaks my heart._   
_But there they had each other plain,_   
_In my private land of counterpane._


	6. If T.S. Eliot Wrote K/S

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: The T.S. Eliot piece, like most of Eliot, has no happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Journey of the Magi

_A hard search we had of it._   
_Five of us (or was it six?)_   
_Made the voyage, and such a strange voyage,_   
_Back to that newborn world_   
_For the dead, but not dead._   
_And my ship flew her last for us,_   
_Just as he gave his last for her, for us._   
_In this time I regretted_   
_The unspoken words, the things undone,_   
_The choice I wouldn't make, the choice he wouldn't force,_   
_What might have been and now might never will._   
_And the times I choose form over substance,_   
_And the times I choose comfort over passion,_   
_And the times I choose the many over the few,_   
_And what I wouldn't give to change that now._   
_A hard voyage we had of it._   
_Near the end we preferred to travel in silence,_   
_Sleeping in snatches,_   
_With a voice ringing in my ears, saying_   
_That this may all be folly._

_Then as dawn broke over the tube we met the Klingons._   
_Unyielding--ready to kill or die for Genesis._   
_Genesis: life from death, or death from life?_   
_And my ship, my beautiful ship once more gave her all_   
_And breathed her last low on the blood red sky._   
_We found David away in the meadow._   
_My son, my future, my legacy, cold._   
_I killed the one who killed him, I think._   
_I am told Spock killed the other._   
_Spock. So hot. So alive. So cold._   
_The commander came, they left; we stayed to fight._   
_And feet, my feet, kicking him over the chasm_   
_I arrived as the world crumbled, not a moment too soon_   
_Retrieving him alive was (you may say) a miracle._

_All this was a long time ago. I remember,_   
_And would do it all again, for him_   
_But this set down_   
_This: was I led all that way for_   
_Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,_   
_Spock lives again, no doubt. I had seen birth and death,_   
_But had thought they were different; this Birth was_   
_Hard and bitter agony, like Death, our death._   
_We returned to our places, our duties,_   
_But no longer at ease with each other, the old traditions,_   
_Alien people to each other, clutching at their past._   
_I should be glad of another death._


End file.
